Journal of Parasitology

Published by: American Society of Parasitologists

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Journal of Parasitology 94(3):616-621. 2008
doi: 10.1645/GE-1368.1

Prevalence and Abundance of Fleas in black-tailed Prairie Dog Burrows: Implications for the Transmission of Plague (Yersinia pestis)

Dan J. Salkeld* and Paul Stapp

Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton, California 92834-6850.

101*IUCN—The World Conservation Union, 1630 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20009

Plague, the disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, can have devastating impacts on North American wildlife. Epizootics, or die-offs, in prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) occur sporadically and fleas (Siphonaptera) are probably important in the disease's transmission and possibly as maintenance hosts of Y. pestis between epizootics. We monitored changes in flea abundance in prairie dog burrows in response to precipitation, temperature, and plague activity in shortgrass steppe in northern Colorado. Oropsylla hirsuta was the most commonly found flea, and it increased in abundance with temperature. In contrast, Oropsylla tuberculata cynomuris declined with rising temperature. During plague epizootics, flea abundance in burrows increased and then subsequently declined after the extirpation of their prairie dog hosts.

Received: June 26, 2007; Revised: October 10, 2007; Accepted: October 10, 2007



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Figure 1.Seasonal changes in relative abundance of Oropsylla hirsuta (black) and Oropsylla tuberculata cynomuris (gray). Data were pooled from all years; there was no sampling carried out in April

Figure 2.Mean (±1 SE) flea loads in all burrows and in infested burrows, and the proportion of burrows that were infested with fleas, on prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies before, during, and after plague epizootics. Values in parentheses are the numbers of colonies included in each plague status category. For a given variable, bars with different letters were significantly different among plague status categories (ANOVA, with Tukey's multiple comparisons tests; P ≤ 0.05). Bars without letters were not significantly different from any of the others

table

Table I.Summary of fleas found in prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) burrows on the Pawnee National Grasslands, Weld Co., Colorado. We sampled 3,013 burrows, though some of these burrows may be duplicates over time. An additional 390 fleas remain unidentified

table

Table II.Published reports of flea species in prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) burrows
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